The Jersey Shore has never been short on kosher food. What it has been missing is a place to actually stay. For years, keeping kosher on a shore vacation meant renting a house, packing your own kitchen, or booking a room and improvising around a mini fridge. Ocean Grove just changed that. The Beachliner is the first and only kosher hotel in this historic seaside town, open year round and sitting just 75 steps from the beach.
A Victorian Landmark Reborn
The building is not new. The four-story, multi-porched Victorian at 7 Main Avenue is one of Ocean Grove’s oldest surviving hotels, a structure tourists would have recognized as far back as 1875.
Over the decades it operated as the Stratford Hotel and later the Bellevue Stratford Inn, an Ocean Grove landmark with roughly 20 guest rooms and six ocean-view porches.
In 2025, Rabbi Jacob Tikotzky of Lakewood purchased the roughly 14,000-square-foot property, gutted and renovated it, and reopened it under a new name. The result keeps the classic Victorian bones and adds the modern comforts a frum family actually wants on vacation.
Why Ocean Grove Works for Kosher Travelers
Ocean Grove is unlike almost every other town on this stretch of coast. The community permits zero commercial activity on its beaches, which means no loud music, no vendors, and none of the noise you get elsewhere. It reads as calm, quiet, and genuinely restful, which is exactly what a couple or a family looking to decompress is after.
The trade-off is not isolation. Asbury Park and its nightlife sit a few blocks away, and Point Pleasant, Long Branch & Deal (along with their plethora of kosher dining options), and other shore towns are a short drive. You get the quiet when you want it and the action when you do not.
Kosher Breakfast and Daily Amenities
Every morning brings a hot or cold kosher breakfast served in the hotel’s dining room. The spread is large enough to double as lunch, and innkeeper Bernadette Roche actively encourages guests to take food with them, whether back to their rooms, out to the porches, or down to the sand. Throughout the day the dining room stocks homemade cookies, pastries, coffee, and cold drinks. The amenity list runs deep: custom mattresses, high-speed Wi-Fi, complimentary beach badges, beach chairs, beach towels, and bikes, plus a lobby with a fireplace and books and games for downtime.
For more nearby kosher options, and there are many within a short drive, consult the KosherNearMe app.
Rooms and the Beach
The Beachliner runs a full range of room types, from the Seabreeze King and Horizon Suite with balcony ocean views to the Dune Twins, the Shoreline Studio with a private entrance and patio, and the Royal Saltair. Several rooms and porches deliver direct views of the beach and boardwalk, and sunrise and sunset from the balconies are part of the pitch. Every room comes with a small refrigerator, and if a guest needs more cold storage, Roche will make room in the larger one. You can see the full room lineup on the hotel’s website.
Dinner, Shabbat, and Kashrus Logistics
Dinner is the one thing The Beachliner does not yet serve on site. During the week that is a non-issue: kosher guests have their pick of restaurants, diners, and ice cream parlors under the Jersey Shore Orthodox Rabbinate in nearby Allenhurst, Deal, Elberon, and Long Branch, with Lakewood a little further out.
Back at the hotel, guests can reheat meals in the microwave or use the hotel’s kosher warmer. For Shabbat, Roche can point guests toward local home hospitality, usually in Bradley Beach, or help keep meals warm for those who bring their own. Ocean Grove has no eruv, but shuls and minyanim are a short walk away. Rabbi Tikotzky is already floating bigger ideas, including a rooftop sukkah overlooking the ocean.
The Info
The Beachliner Hotel is located at 7 Main Avenue, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756.
Reception is open 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM, with check-in at 3:00 PM and check-out at 11:00 AM. The hotel is open year round. Kosher certification is under the Jersey Shore Orthodox Rabbinate (JSOR).
Looking for kosher restaurants near you? Download the KosherNearMe app at YeahThatsKosher.com/app.
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